Knitting machine



Malfdl 1 1- J. A. MILLS 1,794,415

KNITTING mourns Filed Feb. 14, 1929 Patented Mar. 3, 1931 "UNITED s'rAres :rosnrrr ALFRED MILLS, or EAST KIRKVIBY, ENGLAND KNITTING MACHINE Application filed February 14, 1929, Serial N'o. 339,837, and in Great Britain February 24, 1928.

This invention relates to improvements in knitting machines of the kind in which butted' needles are located in gates or recesses (usually termed tricks) in a needle cylinder or bed, and motion is imparted to them by means of cams acting on the needle butts. Its object is to provide more strength in the walls be tween the needle tricks f at the points where the'butts on the needles are located, than is the case in existingma'chines.

The invention is applicable to machines of very fine gauge,-where there is very little space between the needles, and the Walls between the'fneedle tricks are consequently very thin and not strong enough to resistthe lat eral pressure which is put upon them by the action of the cams on the needle butts. Where this weakness occurs ina machine, it has to be run at a reduced speed, and the, output is'in' consequence seriously limited. 7 r

' A machine which comes under this head, is the circular rib machine adapted to produce a one-and-one interlocked ribbed fabric. In this machine, alternate needles in thecylinder and alternate needles in the ribber dial knit one course, whilstthe remainder knit the nex'tcourse; Thereare'therefore two sets of both cylinder and rib needles, and there is in A consequence very little space between them. It is obvious that the strength in the walls betweenlthe needle tricks, is more particu" larly required where-the needlebutts are dis- I posed, and lateral pressure is put upon them by the cams acting upon the said butts. The

arrangement hereinafter described provides the necessary strength at the said parts.

The invention is described and shown as applied to a circular knitting machine, that being the type where it ismore particularly required, but it is also applicable to machines in which the needles are disposed in a straight bed. f j I 7 According to this invention, short and long needles are arranged alternately in a needle *5 cylinder, straight bed, or ribber dial, the

the drawing.

butted ends of the long needles are disposed in tricks formed in a partwhi ch stands up above the tricks in which the corresponding ends of theshort needles are disposed, said upstanding part being an exterior enlargement in the case of a needle cylinder, and a raised, step in the case. of a straight bed or ribber dial, and oneset of needles is bentin order to locate their upper or ,outerlends in line with those of the other set. 7

Referring to the accompanying drawing Fig. lis a" sectional elevation, showing the needle cylinder. and ribber dial of a circular rib knitting machine, both of which are constructed and the needle arranged therein according to my invention. l.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a section of the needle cylinder.

Fig. 3 is'a sectional plan of a portion of the needle cylinder taken on the line 02 w of Fig. 1.

dial; F 1g. 5 1s a sectional elevation, and

Fig. 6 a plan of a segment of 'a ribber dial embodying the same principle as that shown in Fig, 1, but of slightly diflerent construction.' Like letters indicate like parts throughout :In carrying out this invention, the upper end of the needle cylinder A including the verge B (see Figs. l, 2 and is formed with needle tricks or recesses C, for the upper ends of the whole of the needles, and the whole of these tricks are carried down to thepoi'nt D. From the latterpoint down to the point E, the exterior diameter of the needle cylinder is increased, and'every alternate trick C is carried down to the lower end of this enlargement, that is, to i At a still'lower point, that is from E to F,

- the external diameter of the needle cylinder 7 is still further increased, and th'is part is sov Fig. 4 is a'plan of a section ofthe ribber with the spaces between the needle tricks C which are carried down the part between D and E. In the preferred construction, but it is not essential,-the part of the cylinder A between D and E, is of such a diameter that the tricks G can be continued through it, but they are of a reduced depth at this part.

The short needles H, are disposed in alternate tricks C in the upper part of the cylinder A, and have their lower butted ends H located in the tricks C of full depth between the points D and E, whilst the long needles J have their lower butted endsJ located in the tricks G between the points E and F. These long needles J which are also located in the shallow tricks G in the part between D and E, are bent at K, so as to locate their upper ends in the same line as the short needles H, and in the tricks C in the upper part of the needle cylinder A. 4

It will be seen that with the arrangements described, thewwalls between the tricks where the butted ends of both the long and short needles are disposed, are more than double the strength of the walls between the tricks 7 where the upper ends of the said needles are disposed, and as ample strength is afiorded' where it is required, the space between the needles can be reduced to'the minimum, and consequently the number employed per inch F can be increased to the maximum without the disadvantage previously referred to. Very fine gauge machines with this arrangement can be run at the normal speed without risk of causing damage, and their output is thus brought up to that of medium or coarse gauge machines.

The shallow needle tricks G in the part between the points D and E, in which the long bent needles J are disposed, do not affect the strength of the walls between the tricks in which the butted ends of the short needles H v are disposed, as the depth of these tricks is only about one fourth of those C provided at this part of the said ends of the short needles H. t

In order to actuate the needles arranged as described, two sets of cams, upper and lower are required, as is usual when needles of different lengths are employed, but in this case,"

it is obvious that the lower set of cams must be disposed in a cylindrical surface which is greater in diameter than that of the upper set of cams. This can however be obviated if desired by forming the short needles H with longer butts than the longneedles J.

The same construction and arrangement is adopted inthe ribber dial L of a rib knitting machine, (see Figs'l and i), but in this case,

the'inner butted ends M of the long rib v needles M, are disposed in radial needle tricks Y formed in an inner annular part between N and N which stands up a step higher than the annular part between N and. O, in which deep tricks Y are provided for the butt ends P of the shorter needles P, and shallow tricks Y for the long needles M. The outer part 0 to O which is a step lower than the part between N and O, is formed with tricks Y for every needle, and the long needles M are bent at M in order to locate fitted together, and comprises a main part V with an annular recess V in its upper face, in which is fitted an annulus Q, of the sectional shape shown. The outer portion V of the face of the main part V is formed with deep radial gates R for the alternate short rib needles P, and with shallow gates T betweenthe former, for the outer portions of the long dial needles M, the butted ends M of which are disposed in gates S in the part Q} of the an: nulus Q, which part stands a step higher'than the part V of the main part V. The long needles M are in this arrangement bent at U, a point which is outside the circumference of the body of the dial V,the diameter of which must be regulated to make room for the sink What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is V Y In a knitting machine, a vertical needle cylinder having two external circumferential enlargements which form three steps, the in termediate step projecting beyond the upper step, which forms the top part of the cylinder, and the lower step projecting beyond the intermediate step, said upper step having grooves for all the needles and each alternate groove in it being extended through the intermediate step, and said intermediate step having grooves arranged in line with the remaining grooves'of the upper step and extended through the lower step and having their bottoms arranged in a different longitudinal plane from those ofthe grooves in the upper step, said intermediate step being thereby provided with deep and shallow grooves arranged alternately; in combination with short needles arranged in the deep grooves of the intermediate step and the grooves in .the upper step inline with thesaid deep their extensions through the lower step and having inwardly bent upper end portions which engage with the said remaining grooves of the upper step, all the needlesbe ing' otherwise straight and having the inner sides of their butts arranged in the same planes 'as their inner sides which bear on the bottoms of the grooves, and all the needles being withdrawable upwardly in their grooves without displacing them radially of the cylinder.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification at Nottingham, this 30th day of January, 1929. v

JOSEPH ALFRED MILLS. 

